How To Save A Life
by MobileTracker
Summary: Po's hurt and in a comma. Tigress blames herself. Can the others pull her out of it? Oneshot.


The four of them stood outside her room quietly, trying their hardest to draw up strength from somewhere deep inside to do what needed to be done. Their friend needed them, even if she refused to admit it, and they weren't about to back away from that. Truth be told, while they knew she would take things hard, they never imagined it would go as far as it did in such a short time.

Po and Tigress had always been close. So when he had fallen into a coma after pushing her out of the way of a falling boulder, it was no surprise she had taken it hard. What made things worse was the sinking feeling they all had that he would never wake up from it.

Viper was the first to push the door open, looking around the room for the tiger master before spotting her seated nearly in a chair facing the window, several bottles of empty booze at her feet, another clasped tightly in her hand.

"Tigress, we need to talk." She started. Tigress didn't answer. Instead she stumbled to her feet, trying to walk past them. "Tigress, sit down. We're only going to talk." Crane plead, standing next to Viper.

Tigress regained her footing, offering them an inebriated smile before moving to walk past them. Crane looked to Viper and then the others sadly.

_Step one, you say "we need to talk", she walks_

_You say "sit down it's just a talk",_

_She smiles politely back at you, you stare politely right on through_

_Some sort of window to your right, as she goes left and you stay right_

_Between the lines of fear and blame, you begin to wonder why you came_

They followed her out into the courtyard, watching as she stumbled towards the training hall. Her place of solitude and peace. They exchanged worried looks with each other again before following her into the hall. They entered to see Tigress bowing drunkenly to Master Shifu who looked upon his adopted daughter with a look of the up most sorrow and sympathy. He looked to his other students with dispair as Tigress perched herself at the edge of the arena, bottle still clasped tightly in her hands.

_Where did I go wrong?_

_I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known, how to save a life..._

Again they stepped forward to try and talk to her. "Tigress," Monkey pressed, placing a hand on her shoulder. He flinched when she felt her muscles tighten at his touch. "Tigress you need to listen to what we have to say. We're your friends, we care about you." Mantis tried, holding back any joking comment he wanted to make. This wasn't the time for that. She looked at them from the corner of her eyes, taking a long swig from the booze bottle grasped so tightly in her hands before looking back to the training floor.

Viper again tried to reach her, the snake coiling up next to her friend. "Tigress, please listen to us. You can't keep doing this! You can't keep getting up every day at one in the afternoon and drinking yourself into oblivion like this. It isn't healthy, it isn't _you_." There was a moment of silence as they waited for any kind of reaction from Tigress. She looked down to the bottle again, lifting it to her lips and downing the rest of the bitter drink before throwing the bottle to the ground, the sound of it shattering filling the room as she quickly rose back to her feet and stumbled back out the doorway.

_Let her know that you know best, cause after all, you do know best_

_Try to slip past her defense without granting innocence._

_Lay down a list of what is wrong, things you told her all along;_

_And pray to god she hears you, and pray to god she hears you_

Again the followed her, out into the courtyard again as she crossed it, heading for the medical bay. For Po. When they entered the building they found her standing in the doorway of his room, bracing herself against the door as she looked over his form. He seemed so peaceful, like he was sleeping. No one could have guessed that it had been sixteen long days since she had last looked into those beautiful jade eyes of his.

_And where did I go wrong?_

_I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I know, how to save a life..._

"It isn't your fault, Tigress." Crane starts, causing the feline's ears to perk slightly before lowering against her skull. She didn't want to hear anything they had to say. Not that those wishes would be met. "Crane's right, Tigress. It was an act of nature... Po saved your life. It isn't your fault what happened." Monkey continued, drawing nods from the others.

"Not my fault?" Tigress echoed, clenching her hand on the door frame as she turned to look at them. "Not my fault?" She repeated, her voice getting louder. "It's entirely my fault! I should've seen it coming! I should have heard it about to fall! I should have protected him! It's my fault! All of it is my fault! It was my job to protect him and I failed. And not only did I fail, but my inability to succeed cost him his life!" Crane broke in, pointing his wing towards Po's form. "He isn't dead! He's hurt, and badly, but he isn't dead!"

"He may as well be!" Tigress roared, the door frame shattering as her powerful claws dug deep into the wood. Viper narrowed her eyes, hissing quietly. "That's enough. Where does this end, Tigress? You can't go on like this! What does drinking yourself stupid every single day accomplish! Enough is enough! It will only kill you and then what? Not only do we have to deal with the loss of a brother, but the loss of a sister I well? I won't do it, Tigress! Not just so that you can feel better about an accident! Let us help you!"

Tigress let out a growl at her friends words, feeling wounded. They didn't understand! They couldn't understand! She was the leader, it was her duty and her duty alone to protect them! All of them!

"You just don't understand, Viper. I'm not the same anymore... I couldn't protect Po, which means I also can't protect any of you. I have lost my purpose." She whispered, looking to the floor, too ashamed to meet her friend's eyes.

_As she begins to raise her voice, you lower yours and grant her one last choice_

"_Drive until you lose the road, or brake with the ones you follow"_

_She will do one of two things_

_She will admit to everything, or she'll say she's just not the same_

_And you'll begin to wonder why you came_

"Tigress, you need to understand that it isn't your fault. We were all there, we all saw it. There was nothing you could have done. That boulder would have killed you the minute it hit you. Po wanted to protect you from it. He cares about you, I'd even go so far to say that he loves you..." Viper said, moving forward to look up into the tiger's eyes. "And what you are doing is taking that second chance at life he gave you and throwing it away in the bottom of and endless bottle. It needs to stop, Tigress. We're all so worried about you. It hurts us to see you like this..."

_Where did I go wrong?_

_I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I know, how to save a life..._

Tigress opened her mouth and closed it again. She couldn't quite find the right words to use to reply to her friend, no, her sister. She looked up to the others who all had looks of genuine concern on their faces. Pushing the thoughts of the nasty hangover she would be feeling in the morning, Tigress took a deep breath, choosing to nod instead of speak. She stiffened slightly when her friends were suddenly surrounding her in an awkward group hug. She held her breath for a moment, sighing softly when they stepped back, only to have her breath hitch again when she heard a soft groan coming from the panda in the medbay. Her eyes went wide as she looked over to Po who's eyes were open. She took a few steps forward, grinning widely when his eyes landed on her and he smiled softly, wincing as every muscle in his body felt beyond stiff.

She couldn't help herself. Before she even realized she was doing it her arms were around his neck and her lips were on his cheek, pulling him tightly to her. Po winced and bit back a groan of pain as every muscle in his body protested to the movement after having been still for so long.

"I missed you, too, Tigress." Po laughed softly, groaning in pain. "How long was I out? Do you think I could get a doctor's note for all the training I missed?"

Tigress couldn't help but laugh softly, pulling him back into a tight hug again as Crane shuffled the others out of the room to give them some time. "You can have all the doctor's notes you want, Po." She whispered, closing her eyes tightly to push back to tears of joy.

_Where did I go wrong?_

_I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I know, how to save a life..._

_Song: How To Save A Life by The Fray_

_Story: MT2011_

A/N: I know, I know, you guys wanted an "Of Fire and Ice" update. I'm working on it I swear! Couple of things. First, yes, I did change the lyrics from male to female. I had to in order to make them fit. Second, I know the ending didn't quiet fit the song 100%, but I honestly just could not bring myself to write the sad ending that would fit the song. What can I say? I'm a romantic.


End file.
